How to Wow: Proven Strategies for Presenting Your Ideas, Persuading Your Audience, and Perfecting Your Image

222 Pages·2008·0.94 MB·English

by  Frances Cole Jones

Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE
Don’t Leave Home Without Them:
The Nonnegotiable General Principles
Dearly Beloved Data Lovers
Tell Me a Story
“My name is Bond”
Useless Modifiers Are Just That
The All-Important Diaphragm
“You’re such a bad dog…”
Your Most Persuasive Words
What to Wear? What to Wear?
Your Nerves Are in Your Neck
Listen Up!
Dear Diary
More Isn’t Better. Better Is Better.
“Because, because, because, because, because…”
Entrances and Exits
Two Is One and One Is None
It’s Easy to Make It Look Hard—What’s Hard Is to Make It Look Easy
“Action!”
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER TWO
Make It More Than “Just Lunch”:
The Art of the One-on-One Encounter
Visual, Aural, or Kinesthetic?
Read Between the Signs
Every Villain Is the Hero of His Own Story
What’s Their Egg?
Your Black Book for Lunch
Manners Maketh Man
Oh, Those Windows of the Soul
He Listened/She Listened
State the Obvious
When Softer Is Stronger
Channel Your Inner Clooney or Kelly
“Go up. Don’t come down.”
“I was just joking!” Um…No
We Dislike Most in Others What We Don’t Like in Ourselves
“Hi, you’ve reached…”
Making “Let’s stay in touch” a Reality
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER THREE
Conspire to Inspire:
Maximizing Meetings
Put It on a Matchbook
Your Black Book for Meetings
Quarterback vs Closer
Ally or Observer?
Your Seat at the Table
Hands Up!
The First-Date Gaze
Agree and Add
What’s Working?
“Can you tell me why you’re doing it that way?”
Avoiding Handout Trap Hazards
“In the absence of orders initiate appropriate action”
Putting the Constructive in Constructive Criticism
S.M.E.A.C.
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER FOUR
Interview to a Kill:
Stress-Free Job Interviewing
What Three Words…
Check for Tone Deafness
Know Your Softball Swing
What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
Your Black Book for Interviews
Beware Being “Too cool for school”
If You Can’t Fix It, Feature It
The Underrated Informational Interview
Now It’s Your Turn
Know Your Walk-Away Number
You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get
The Polished Follow-Up
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER FIVE
Stand and Deliver:
Giving Speeches That Bring People to Their Feet
Your Black Book for Speeches
Advance Recon
What’s the “Once upon a time?”
“Opening amenities are opening inanities”
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
“Nerves are the respect you pay your audience”
Making an Entrance
Come Out! Come Out!
There’s Nothing Neutral about Neutral
Nothing Beats Human
Pumpkin/Raisin
Solvitor Ambulando
Make It Everybody’s Problem
Stick Your Landing
Plant the Question
Mired in Minutiae
The Art of the Introduction
Gloat Back to Your Seat
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER SIX
Pointed PowerPoint:
Making PowerPoint Powerful
Practice Is Perfect
Ready, Set, Room
Hit Your Numbers HARD
A List Is a Party
Margin Notes Are Anything but Marginal
Setting Up Your Slides
Before, During, or After?
It’s Never a “Good Question”
If a Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words, How about a Prop?
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER SEVEN
Put It in Writing:
But Before You Do…
Being There
You Can Quote Me
The Devil’s on E-mail
When It’s Time to Résumé
Cover Art
And Here Comes the Pitch!
Your Speechwriting Road Map
Warming Up to Your Cold Call
Polishing Your Proposal
What a Sticky Web You’ll Weave
Sign Language
The Writing’s on the Wall
“I’d like to thank…”
Dressing It Up
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER EIGHT
Oh So Social:
Making the Most of Your Social Interactions
Count Your Assets
Your Black Book for Parties
When Your Host…Isn’t
Do You Want to Be Right, or Do You Want to Be Friends?
Ask Not What Your Country (Club Membership) Can Do for You
“It’s not a choice”
“May I introduce…”
The Ways of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Raising a Glass
Up, Up, and Away
SUMMING IT UP
CHAPTER NINE
The Fine Points of Verbal Finesse:
Answers to Questions, and Question and Answer
“You have not converted a man because you have silenced him”
There’s a Reason It’s Called “The Situation Room”
It’s Not an Injury, It’s an Opening
“Do you beat your dog?”
Ouch! That Wasn’t Nice
“I object!”
What if?/What Is
Fight the Flab
“The fool wonders, the wise man asks”
Everything in Moderation
“Mistakes were made” (Yes, but by who?)
The Graceful Exit